Violence returns to city in Mali

2 weeks after Gao was liberated, Islamist militants mount attack

JEROME DELAY
Credit: AP
French and Malian soldiers check for snipers during exchanges of fire with jihadists Sunday in Gao, Mali.

Gunfire rang out in the streets of the strategic city of Gao in northern Mali on Sunday, two weeks after French troops appeared to have chased Islamists out of the city, which is at the edge of the desert and is the largest population center in the north.